Sadly, Joe Davis and Kevin Austin passed away in November 2018 and during 2019 we also lost Lindsay Parsons, Junior Agogo and Stuart Taylor.
As a result of our fundraising events we have been able to help or commemorate the lives of all five former players.
We have also offered assistance with funeral costs and £1,050 has helped those who have accepted.
Gas defender Kevin Austin passed away on 23rd November 2018, at the age of just 45 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Our memories of his life can be found here. We donated £150 to St. Luke’s as a memory to Kevin and in May 2020 we will be helping to bring together former Rovers players and former Swansea City players for a benefit / testimonial match at the Mem jointly in aid of Rovers’ Academy Head of Medical Services Steve Bissix and a charity chosen by Kevin’s family.
Rovers defender Joe Davis, with well over 200 Pirate appearances to his name from 1961 to 1967, passed away on 26th November 2018. Our tribute to this modest and kind man can be found here.
We have set up an annual award entitled the Joe Davis Achievement Award. This will be awarded to a person nominated by the Bristol Rovers Community Trust. The inaugural award in 2019 was given to Luke Bayliss for his excellent attitude, attainment and progress on his educational studies on his BTEC Level 3 in Sport, studied for at the Memorial Stadium. Luke also volunteers for coaching duties at The Mem and is pictured here receiving his award on 26th December 2019 from Joe’s widow Alma (far right) and two of Joe’s grandchildren on the left.
Former Rovers full back Lindsay Parsons, passed away on 12th April 2019 at the age of 73 following a long illness. We donated £150 to the Alzheimer’s Society (Registered Charity No. 29664) in memory to Lindsay. Our tribute to the tough stalwart can be found here.
In 2019 we made a donation in memory of Junior Agogo to The National Brain Appeal Aphasia Programme. Junior sadly passed away aged just 40 on 22nd August 2019 – our tribute to the brilliant Ghana striker can be read here. He had supported this cause following his stroke in 2015, which had resulted in him receiving speech therapy from the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. A press article – HERE – explains more.
Junior’s sister also sent us this lovely email: “On behalf of Junior Agogo’s family, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Bristol Rovers Former Players Association for their donation of £500 to The National Brain Appeal Aphasia Service in memory of my brother. We cannot thank you all enough for the love and support you have shown during our difficult time. This means a lot and we are all very grateful and appreciate you all. Thank you again.”
Alexis Gebbie, Senior Fundraising Officer at The National Brain Appeal (Registered Charity No. 290173), also sent us the following letter of thanks.
